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Nextbike a german company offers station less bikeshare, or at least a hybrid model, dockless within a central area and with stations outside. http://www.nextbi

Nextbike a german company offers station less bikeshare, or at least a hybrid model, dockless within a central area and with stations outside. http://www.nextbike.de/en/locations/ http://www.nextbike.de/en/locations/ zoom in on "red" locations like Köln or Karlsruhe.

awjr 10y ago
Their sister company just created the first fully electric bike share programme in Exeter, UK https://www.co-bikes.co.uk/ https://www.co-bikes.co.uk/ I think this is the key thing bike share programmes are missing to get 'normal' people on board. Bicycles are great exercise, ebikes are simply the quickest and easiest way to travel around cities. Bath Hacked were able to get hold of the NextBike Bath hire data for the scheme. Hire stations even on slight hills had significantly less usage. These bikes are heavy and people that rent them are not used to cycling. Lot of people taking bikes from the station on the hill, but very very few to the station. We also found a huge number of circular rides (back to the same station) i.e. tourists/locals using them for leisure rides. The following video shows all the rides by hour of day rides are taken excluding circular hires. The station with very few rides is top right ("Sulis"). Note how there are a bunch of drunk students riding them back to halls around 3am in the morning ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AfocuESnSg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AfocuESnSg Even if your city is flat, electric bikes will make a big difference to uptake. The mistake people make is that the people that get the council to implement these schemes are usually keen cyclists and are 'ok' with a bit of strenous cycling. That is not 95% of your potential customer base. PS: Would be good to see co-bike's hire data at some point and the impact elevation had on hires.
- masklinn 10y ago
  Dockless electrical seems like a drawback though, as chances become high your undocked ebike is now just a heavier regular bike.
  - awjr 10y ago
    Sorry I was just commenting on the need to appeal to 'normal' people who find the idea of cycling too much effort and too sweaty. Electric bikes need docking stations but usually a charge will last at least 40 miles. More than enough for a day.
    - masklinn 10y ago
      Oh don't misunderstand me, I fully agree that an ebike sharing service would be significantly better (more convenient and comfortable and with larger appeal in both flat and non-flat cities), I'm just saying I don't see how to reconcile ebike services with dockless.

awjr 10y ago

Their sister company just created the first fully electric bike share programme in Exeter, UK https://www.co-bikes.co.uk/ https://www.co-bikes.co.uk/ I think this is the key thing bike share programmes are missing to get 'normal' people on board. Bicycles are great exercise, ebikes are simply the quickest and easiest way to travel around cities. Bath Hacked were able to get hold of the NextBike Bath hire data for the scheme. Hire stations even on slight hills had significantly less usage. These bikes are heavy and people that rent them are not used to cycling. Lot of people taking bikes from the station on the hill, but very very few to the station. We also found a huge number of circular rides (back to the same station) i.e. tourists/locals using them for leisure rides. The following video shows all the rides by hour of day rides are taken excluding circular hires. The station with very few rides is top right ("Sulis"). Note how there are a bunch of drunk students riding them back to halls around 3am in the morning ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AfocuESnSg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AfocuESnSg Even if your city is flat, electric bikes will make a big difference to uptake. The mistake people make is that the people that get the council to implement these schemes are usually keen cyclists and are 'ok' with a bit of strenous cycling. That is not 95% of your potential customer base. PS: Would be good to see co-bike's hire data at some point and the impact elevation had on hires.

masklinn 10y ago
Dockless electrical seems like a drawback though, as chances become high your undocked ebike is now just a heavier regular bike.
- awjr 10y ago
  Sorry I was just commenting on the need to appeal to 'normal' people who find the idea of cycling too much effort and too sweaty. Electric bikes need docking stations but usually a charge will last at least 40 miles. More than enough for a day.
  - masklinn 10y ago
    Oh don't misunderstand me, I fully agree that an ebike sharing service would be significantly better (more convenient and comfortable and with larger appeal in both flat and non-flat cities), I'm just saying I don't see how to reconcile ebike services with dockless.